Donnel Swann

Donnel Swann is the son of Gulian, and Bianca Swann making him both the heir to and a senior member of House Swann. Donnel Swann has one sibling in the form of Emma Swann of whom married Brandan Clegane and has become a close member of House Clegane since the birth of her second child. Donnel Swann has one son of whom he would father while he was at a tournament in the Kingdom of Lorraine, and he refuses to accept the child but it has changed his life for the better.

Donnel Swann spent the early part of his life training alongside his uncle Ser Nerio Swann of whom was a dragon Knight and he set out to join his uncle in the Dragon Knight Ranks. At the age of fifteen Donnel felt he was ready and was knighted in a private ceremony that only a few were invited too. Since this day he has taken part in tournaments and has become a military leader of the house alongside his uncle Nerio. During a tournement in the Kingdom of Lorraine he would father a baby boy of whom he would refuse to accept, but he would talk about existing. When he returned to Lucerne following this tournament he was a changed man, and took a growing role in the ranks of the actual military of House Swann, and this greatly pleased his father. Donnel Swann would join his relatives as they took part in the Invasion of Westbridge, and he would become a more respected commander during this time as he led a portion of the House Swann forces. Donnel would upon his return from Westbridge be commanded to lead a troop of soldiers into Tristfall where he would be commanded to help them conquer the land from the Orcs that had overrun the land.

Contents

History

Early History

Donnel Swann spent the early part of his life training alongside his uncle Ser Nerio Swann of whom was a dragon Knight and he set out to join his uncle in the Dragon Knight Ranks. At the age of fifteen Donnel felt he was ready and was knighted in a private ceremony that only a few were invited too. Since this day he has taken part in tournaments and has become a military leader of the house alongside his uncle Nerio.

White Knife marriage

“I was unmarried, and I knew that my age was going to mean that it was only a matter of time. My mother had always told me the only thing to pray for was that your husband would be kind, because you were never going to get to choose yourself.”

Following the coronotation of William Lovie III. the tournament of Nortburg was held to celebrate this occasion, and during this many foreign kingdoms sent people to represent them and try to regrow relations with Lucerne as most relations were on life support under the rule of Bill Lovie. One of these groups was House Manderly of the White Knife, and they would send many members including Wylis Manderly and his wife and daughter, as well as Marlon Manderly the uncle of Wylis. After the tournament ended Wylis would come to speak with William Lovie III. and the two would discuss marriage options between the houses, and on the advise of Charlie Swan William's father in law it was decided that Miley Black would be married to Winfred Manderly the only son of Marlon Manderly. Miley would be recalled as quickly as possible to Nortburg where she met with Wylis, and Marlon and was seen to be exceptionally beautiful and smart and thus Marlon immediatly accepted the arrangement, and it was decided to happen shortly after. It was agreed between Wylis, and William that following the marriage the two groups would begin arrangements to bring the Manderlys into the sphere of Lucerne, and away from the growing threats of Bolten, and the Iron Islands.

“Miley Black getting married far away was the perfect excuse that I needed to escape the death that I saw everywhere I looked in Tree Hill. They could seemingly rebuild every fallen brick, and bring in hundreds of new people, but all I saw was death and pain.”

— Lucas Scott

Once the Manderlys returned to White Knife the wedding was already being planned, and it takes longer then expected after Ironborn raid several ships filled with wedding supplies purchased from Pontus. When the wedding is finally planned Miley Black and basically her entire family alongside many nobles of Forks travel to the White Knife for the wedding. Lucas Scott travels northward and alongside Morrigan joins the fleet going to White Knife and acts as the sort of commander of the defence of the fleet despite be uneeded due to the high strength of the fleet. On the trip to the White Knife Lucas Scott grows to be friends with Miley Black and the two share stories of their youth with Lucas withholding much of the true darkness that he went through. One night Morrigan finally confronts him on why he has lied so many times to Miley, and he breaks down revealing that he is trying to make himself believe it wasn't as bad as he knows it was, and the two share a kiss before making love in his room beneath deck.

“One of the first things that dies when your in the kind of hopeless situation we were in Tree Hill is the ability to understand human interaction. You long to be be treated kindly because for so long you were sad, but the sad truth is that strangers don't usually make the best crutches to stand on.”

— Lucas Scott

Arriving at the White Knife Lucas Scott was shown around the land by Wylis Manderly and his wife of whom held hands the entire time they walked Lucas around White Harbor. Lucas would remain with Wylis after his wife had to leave to wake up their youngest of whom needed milk, and the two would discuss the situation in White Knife, and Wylis was completely open as Lucas had a letter from William saying that Lucas was to be fully trusted with sensitive information for he was a loyal servent. Wylis discussed with him how the Boltens had begun sending word to White Harbor stating that the White Knife was deemed a part of the larger plans for Bolten, and that if they did not join with the Boltens then other steps would be taken to have them join. Lucas questioned whether they could hold off the Boltens, and Wylis told him that it was going to be difficult for the Boltens as the Manderlys had a large fleet which would make crossing very difficult, but if they were able to land they had significantly larger ground forces and in that case White Knife would fall. The two would be interupted when a messenger told Wylis that Domeric Bolten and his cousin had arrived in White Harbor with several other nobles, and wished to attend the wedding. Domeric Bolten would demand food be given to him so that he was under the guest right while he remained in White Harbor, and Lucas would briefly meet with the prince of Bolten, and despite what he had thought he would find Domeric was a kind young man.

“The Wedding went by without a hitch, but the presence of Domeric, and Jordin Bolton was something that opened my eyes to what awaited us in the not so far future.”

— Lucas Scott

The wedding went by without a hitch, and Lucas would make a point to meet fully with Domeric Bolten, and he leaves the wedding to find Domeric waiting outside the hall for him. The two leave the wedding and speak of many things, and Lucas is shocked at genuinly nice Domeric appears to be, and Domeric tells him a story of Bolten, and despite how well the two get along the conversation takes a dark turn when Domeric is forced to threaten Lucas with the knowledge that if Lucerne interferes anymore in the White Knife that he will be forced to intervene himself. Lucas knows that Domeric is a capable young man and knowingly takes this threat as more then just a hollow gesture knowing that Domeric will do this despite his gentle nature. Following their conversation Lucas receives a raven and it instructs him to return to Lucerne where he is to meet with his uncle Kieth in Highgarden, and he is to do this with all possible haste.

Invasion of Yerness

Invasion of YernessCharlie I need you to take your forces and take the island. If we do not hold the island all manner of things could come to pass. Maybe the Empire decides to send a fleet. Maybe its the Valerians, or Tevinter, but the thing to remember is that if we hold that island no one is sending any fleets at us.

Options for Attack

Details

A

They could use the Lucernian Fleet and land on top of the actual Fortress of Yerness from the south. This was a very risky option as the fortress was heavily guarded from this angle, and if they were spotted they would have no means of laying siege as they would simply be wiped out.

B

They could go up the eastern side of the Rhine River and then use hundreds of small boats to ferry their troops to the island itself. This option would allow for them to put the fortress under siege, as the only means of stopping an attacker from landing on the eastern side was the small Castle Menmont controlled by House Menmonet. This castle was under construction after a brief civil war in the house had heavily damaged it.

“Northeast of Westbridge lay the port of Yerness which guarded the northern approach down the Rhine, and if held by Malfoy loyalists would make it far more difficult to appraoch the city.”

— Hedrik Clegane III.

For the Invasion of Westbridge to be a success the Lucernian army had to do something about the threat of the large island northeast of Westbridge which was anchored in the massive fortress of Yerness. Yerness Island was basically a massive port on the south of the island which contained the vast majority of the Westbridge fleet, and then four large castles at the north, west, east, and center of the island with the most powerful being the center fortress called Castle Yernede. Controlling Yerness would also mean the difference between an easy boat ride for reinforcements in the case that the battle drug on for days or longer, so it became clear that Yerness could not be ignored and needed to be taken. The difficult task of taking Yerness fell upon House Swan, alongside its vassals in House Clegane, House Yerness, and House Black along with many of their sworn houses. In order to actually take the fortresses their were several options of which are shown in the table. In the end Option B was chosen by House Swan, and they along with the rest of the army traveled north to Lorderon where they took boats as far north as possible before travelling on foot to the eastern bank of the Rhine.

Castle Menmont

“Infighting had destroyed the castle over the years, and yet when we attacked them they resisted more bitterly then should have been seen by a defeated foe fighting for nothing but ruins.”

— Hedrik Clegane III.

The broken Castle Menmont was of vital importance to the defense of Yerness as a whole but the calls for resources to rebuild the castle from Westrbridge had met with nothing and thus they had to do it all themselves and for this reason the rebuilding, and repairs were drastically behind schedule. House Clegane led by Mathew, and his brother Hedrik led the initial boats across the waters and they quickly eliminated the sentries that watched the water for anyone coming across. With the sentries eliminated the other houses landed on the banks of the castle except for House Black of whom landed farther north and would be taking control of the small village of Downden as the base of operations for their siege of Yerness.

Taking the Castle

“Charging inside that castle was a horrifying moment because I knew better then most the consequences of what happened if we didn't take this castle, and by extension the island in time for the main attack.”

— Hedrik Clegane III.

Matthew, and Hedrik Clegane led their forces into the depths of the castle, as they planned to move from within while the forces led by Charlie, and his nephew Brody Swan would lead House Swan, alongside House Yernese in a breakthrough of the castle itself. With the sentries down the castle had minimal defenses that late at night, and thus the forces broke through all over the place with minimal casualties, but House Swan ran into a problem when Jordin Menmont barred the front gate of the keep and thus blocked them into the courtyard which they now had near complete control over. Without siege weapons they attempted to find other ways in but basically waited for House Clegane to complete their side of things. Matthew and Hedrik moved with their small force inside the castle completed unaware to House Menmont who as Hedrik moved into the throne room was preparing to send Ravens away to warn the rest of the island. A struggle broke out between the remaining guards and the overwhelming forces of House Clegane who was now inside their walls. Hedrik Clegane watched as Vormin Menmont slew two men by himself and made his way over to the old fighter. Vormin Menmont was a well known fighter, and looking at him was looking at a large man covered completely in armor leaving little weaknesses open to an enemy. As the two fought Vormin found himself a true match but as they continued to fight the rest of House Menmont surrendered around them after members of House Clegane unbarred the gate and allowed in the rest of House Clegane, and House Swan. Even with his house surrendering around him Vormin continued to fight and despite Hedrik`s offer to stand down Vormin refused, and thus after a few more minutes of fighting Hedrik slew Vormin through a slash across the neck which was the only place not covered by armor.With this House Menmont surrendered and Castle Menmont along with House Menmont were not under Lucernian authority.

“He was a bear of a man, and his fighting skill would have proven invaluable in the fighting that Lucerne was going to be dealing with. Instead he chose the honor of death resisting. What a fool.”

— Hedrik Clegane III.

Hedrik Clegane watched as Vormin Menmont slew two men by himself and made his way over to the old fighter. Vormin Menmont was a well known fighter, and looking at him was looking at a large man covered completely in armor leaving little weakenesses open to an enemy. As the two fought Vormin found himself a true match but as they continued to fight the rest of House Menmont surrendered around them after members of House Clegane unbarred the gate and allowed in the rest of House Clegane, and House Swan. Even with his house surrending around him Vormin continued to fight and despite Hedrik`s offer to stand down Vormin refused, and thus after a few more minutes of fighting Hedrik slew Vormin through a slash across the neck which was the only place not covered by armor.With this House Menmont surrendered and Castle Menmont along with House Menmont were not under Lucernian authority.

Taking Dowden

When House Black arrived with their near five hundred men on the outskirts of Downden they moved quickly into the village and took the entire village under their control. With the village under their control they sent word to Castle Menmont that the next stage was ready to begin. Everything went according to plan in Downden up until the point where Aldo Yernese the Patriarch of the House who was an old man fell down a hill and died upon hitting the bottom. For House Yernese this could have thrown the entire operation into disaster but instead Volker Yernese quickly gathered the troops together along with their sworn houses and made sure they all knew everything was fine, and that he would lead the house effectively. With Volker Yernese now in command of the house he quickly set about burrying his father on the hill he had died on, and then he begin preparing his force to move south and meet with House Clegane for the attack on Castle Yernede.

Movement

“I was half worried after it proved so difficult taking the ruined castle at Menmont. If that was the ruins of this island, what would happen when we reached the bristling defenses of the south, and center.”

— Hedrik Clegane III.

With Castle Menmont taken the forces of House Swan moved completely unhindered towards their next goals. House Black moved with its sworn houses towards Castle Irinsi where they waited for a small fleet to arrive before they would hit the castle during the next night. House Mangles broke off from House Black and moved between Castle Yerness, and Castle Yernede and from here they would attempt to stop anyone from making it towards Castle Yerness. House Clegane moved towards Castle Yernede and through the day they spent the day surrounding the Castle from all sides, and constructing siege machines, and defences for their archers. Archers were placed throughout to stop any Ravens that attempted to get away. While this was going on House Swan made a coast line boat ride towards the port of Yerness where they prepared to take the Port from the front where it had no business being suprised in. While House Swan moved in this direction ten ships from the Lucernian Navy moved towards the port and prepared to make sure no boats were able to sail away.

Taking the Port

“The Port of Yerness was the resistence on the island of Yerness. The moment that port went down every single defender on the island understood their island had fallen.”

— Charlie Swan

With basically every settlement in the entire island of Yerness under the control of the forces of House Swan they would prepare for one of the final attacks when House Swan ambushed the port of Yerness from the front, and a major seaborne attack as well. The entire attack waited until night had come, and by this point the defenders still had no idea that anyone was taking the island from them and because of this they were unaware for such large numbers to attack them. The Lucernian Navy would make their way into the port using no lights on the boats to conceal their movements and once they were inside the port they dislodged the forces of House Crakehall, House Hawick and House Dogget of whom quickly took control of the port area, and House Crakehall led by Jonas Crakehall would take control of the keep from which a great massacre of the defenders in the keep would awaken the town to the attackers.

Capturing the Gate

House Crakehall was forced to fight a desperate fight over control of the gates into the port

“House Dogget's supreme failure to silently take control of the keep led to my forces being bogged down in a fight we didn't want to be involved into.”

— Jonas Crakehall

After the massacre at the keep and the raising of the alarm House Dogget was forced to deal with a growing number of defenders of whom were making a stubborn defence of the central and southern gate to such an extent that the attack on the central gate was so fierce that they were forced to pull back. Once they had pulled back a small force led by Garon Dandrill would hold the central gate defenders in place while the remainder of House Dogget moved against the southern gate. The southern gate was already hard pressed to defend themselves, and with this influx of attackers they were pushed out of the gatehouse or killed. House Dogget was able to gain control of the southern gate, and from here the forces of House Swan would swarm into the town, and with the control of the keep the entrance, and the waters the defenders surrendered all across the port.

The West

The WestOur future was not simply in Westros. The west needed to be both protected and grown.

“The King wanted the lands claimed as it was for him an abomination that the Orcs held onto the lands that were once human. With blood and tears we took the land and did our best to hold it.”

— Harrold Hardyng

The wedding of Hanna Arryn and Harrold Krinner had sparked the beginning of the idea for the conquest of Tristfall to become more then just an idea and with this plan now growing it would be three main elements moving forward in the form of the gathering of more forces for the armies. Sansa Starke and Harrold Hardyng would join William in the trip back to Lucerne where they were to meet with many of the Lucernian state noblemen in order to help gain more people for the colonization. Arriving there Sansa would become a growing influence as her kindness and gentle personality were something many of the nobles gravited towards, and her former family in House Starke supported her heavily. After spending many weeks in Lucerne she and Harrold would travel southward to Forks and rally many of the Lords of that state to their cause, but found less support among that state, although House Swan would send several smaller knightly houses to join with the colonization. Travelling finally southward to Highgarden they would find more support among House Tyrell of whom would send Lyonel Flowers of whom would be forming another cadet branch of House Tyrell in return for her being legitimized by House Arryn, and Lyonel Flowers would bring several hedge knight houses and nearly a thousand troops as well. Following this they would leave for Berne where the colonization efforts would begin. In Tristfall itself during this time Margot Robbet had found herself fighting against an Orcish agression for the first time in many years, and this led to her sending scouts out of the forest for the first time in that same period, and it was at this point that she met with some of the more eastern surviving members of the humans of Tristfall, and they would tell her that the Kingdom of Lucerne was massing for an attack all across Tristfall, and the Elves of Quel'Thalas were looking as if they might join with them. Realizing that this was her chance to make her people stronger she would prepare her Knights of the Quill for battle, and leave her younger sister in command of Robbet Forest, and she prepared to leave for Berne with her forces.

“Getting support from the other lords was just one part of what was going to be a truly inspiring crusade my dear. Sweet Sansa look out into the world, and what do you see. I see a world corupted and damaged by the Orcs, and I mean to change that. This is our land. Soon the Orcs shall understand that.”

— Harrold Hardynd

Back in Berne Sansa Starke would join alongside her new husband as he was tasked by House Arryn to colonize and expand into the region west of Berne. Using the influence and power given to him by William Lovie III. they begin forming the army for colonization as the reinforcements from all across Lucerne travelled to the lands of Berne. One of the first tasks that the human forces of Lucerne would have was to make contact with the broken human elements that still remained in the lands of Tristfall of which there were many thousands surrounded by ten times that amount of Orcs. Living in the forests and along rivers these human remnents would be contacted and prepared for the coming crusade against the unaware Orcs. One of the first of these groups was the Knights of the Quill led by Margot Robbet of whom swore themselves to House Hardyng and joined with the growing army of Berne. Sansa Starke would join her husband and Paul Arryn as they met with the Sindar Elves of Quel'Thalas, of whom were going to align with them in order to clean the land of the Orcs.

The Elves of Quel'Thalas

The Elves arriving at Berne would be another notch in the growing Lucerne-Elven alliances under William Lovie III.

“The Elves were so majestic in their appearance. Despite knowing these were not the High Elves that had begun to settle their own town in southern Lucerne, these Sindar Elves had their own magnificence.”

— Sansa Starke

The Elves had been following the situation in Tristfall very closely since the end of the Battle of Berne, and with the tensions very low with Lothlorian at the moment they would meet in oder to decide as a people if they wanted to completely throw their lot in with the Kingdom of Lucerne. Franklin Brent would first notice them when several of his scouts reported signs of Elven ambushes against Orcs near the forest, and he relayed this information to the overall commander in Gunthor Mountain of whom would relay a message to the Quel'Thalasian Elves that they were open to meeting. The leading members of the Senate of Quel'Thalas would request a meeting with King William Lovie III. of which - since William was at this point very far away - they would have via a Magi stone. William Lovie would be able to assist Alleria Windrunner in convinsing Marinda Oakwhisper that the Lucernians meant them only friendship when he revealed how in his dealings with both the High Elves, and the Lothlorian Elves he had made it clear that the Quel'Thalasian Elves were his friend and would not be harmed, and this was the reason that tensions had disapeared with Lothlorian. Seeing truth in his eyes Marinda Oakwhisper would become a direhard loyalist of the Lucernian alliance, and personally commanded some two hundred of her priestesses to the campaign in Tristfall.

“For too long my friends we have allowed fear to be greater then ourselves. These Orcs are an abomination, and it is time that we protect not simply the forest, but we protect the world from their blight. You have my support William Lovie III.”

— Marinda Oakwhisper

Under the command of Thranduil some three hundred Sindar Elves, and another two hundred Priestesses of Elune personally led by Marinda Oakwhisper entered Berne where the talks begin about the terms of the coming crusade. Gunthor Mountain was grateful for their help, and the Elves were heavily placed in a position to assist them all along the forest of Quel'Thalas but especially in the northwest of Tristfall where the Elves would lead the one thousand strong force of Forks led by Ser Donnel Swann of whom would assist them in the northwest while the main force moved in that same direction but from Berne. The Elves would mass in large numbers northward from their forests and would ambush and kill as many Orcs as they possibly could. Special notice was made to make sure the Elves would be able to assist the small villages of humans in the area as every human they saved was one person to add to the army and to add to the possiblity of the future of the land. The Elves described a series of large bridges that allowed crossing over the cliff coasts of the River Berne, and said that in order to hold off the Orcs long term these bridges would need to be destroyed. Thranduil and the Elven forces would at this point recieve reniforcements from there own side in the form of Legolas, and Tauriel of whom both would lead another five hundred Quel'Thalasian Elves into the crusade for Tristfall. By this point they were in full scale fighting with the Bleeding Hollow Clan, but were killing them in their hundreds due to poor leadership on their side, and they had gained nearly a full thousand more troops through the rescueing of stranded humans in the northwest.

Cleaning of Tristfall

“The land was infested with the Orcs. You didn't understand just how many until you actually looked at it from the sky, and saw their emcampents dotting the former lands of Bretonia.”

— Griffin Rider

When the Elves left Harrold Hardyng massed the vast army of Lucerne and begin preparing for the army and people joining them for the western journey. The area was somewhat deserted but using griphons to map the area for Orcish settlements they were able to ambush and massacre the Orcish encampents during the night with the assistence of the Sindar Elves of nearbye Quel`Thalas. These attackers were devestating to the Orcish population, and over the course of two months nearly half the Orcs of Trisfall were butchered in this way, while many thousands of others retreated westward away from the demons that killed them in the night. While this happened the mass flying might of Lucerne would provide support to the surviving humans of Tristfall of whom were armed and fed, and with these supplies they begin preparing themselves to do any kind of damage they could to the Orcs of Tristfall. By this point the Orcs were being pushed back all across the front, and the Blackrock Orcs begin to hear reports from their loyalists in the area about this, and back in Blackrock Mountain a large Orc force was massed in order to attack whatever force the humans were mustering. Led by Blackhand's twin sons this force would make its way southward, but along the way the Frostfang Orcs were reported to be attacking Bleeding Hollow Orcs and thus the twins would change their father's orders and instead moved towards attacking the hated Frostfang Orcs. The Orcs in Trisftall though still had sizeable numbers and the bridges still were in place so they were of great danger to the colonization of Tristfall due to the enormous numbers of Orcs surrounding Tristfall. The Order of the Blue Dragon would become heavily involved during this stage when Khadgar led a large contingent of the Order into the main camp of the army in order to assist. Flying many behind the main lines they would land a contingent of forces near many of the bridges of which the Order of the Blue Dragon would plan the operation to destroy the bridge and thus cutting off the Orcs from being able to swarm into the area. With the destruction of that last bridge the routes into Tristfall were all but cut outside of the pathway that would be fortified and a castle built onto it.

“The Bridges were the end of the line for the Orcs. There was basically one true land route into Tristfall if you took out the bridges, and that showed you right there their value.”

— Irelia Hardyng

Khadgar would split his force into dozens of piece with two main fronts being the northern river, and the western river. Leaving the northern river in charge of Irelia Hardyng the sister of Harrold he would take the majority of the Elven forces and prepare to destroy the western bridges, while Irelia was given most of the Swann forces in order to assist her. Across the operation it went mainly according to plan but along the northern river the Orcs had built a town of sorts around one of the bridges, and it was here where Irelia massed most of her forces including herself, and four other Blue Dragons in the form of Brann Roil, Traevin Rivers, Orden Snow, and Larra Marbrand of whom would summon spells for hours before the attack preparing to basically light the side of the town that was on the Tristfall side of the river on fire, and then during the confusion kill those who retreated southward, and at the same time Brann Roil would destroy Larra Marbrand would summon explosives onto the bridge and destroy it. The plan worked extremly well when the town nearly exploded after the fire of the spells struck several explosve piles the Orcs had placed around the town, and as the fire spread it engulphed the bridge and the town killing most of the town and destroying the bridge as well. The hundreds of Orcs that retreated from the inferno found themselves caught in a crossfire as Donnel Swann's forces would massacre them.

“The Orcs massed as we moved as if they just biologically knew that there was a fight coming. Thousands of Orcs arrayed themselves against us, but caught between our forces they were crushed.”

— Harrold Hardyng

As the main army of Lucerne moved westward they worked alongside the Sindar Elves of Quel'Thalas to massacre the Orcs, but the further westward they got they begin to encounter news from the Sindar Elves and the Griffins that boded ill. The Orcs begin massing near the front lines in a huge force of tens of thousands. This large force was targeted from the sides by the Elves of Quel'Thalas of whom picked them off in ambushes, while they moved towards the main force. Gunthor Mountain would move the main Lucerne army towards this force, and met Franklin Brent's force, and Maron Scorpian's recently arrived force near a large lake. The Elves continued to harrass them, and battle was prepared when the suprise arrival of Tytos Blackwood and some eight hundred men with him caused them to wait several more days before fighting the Orcs. When Tytos arrived at the front he told them that he had been sent by his father in order to form his own wing of House Blackwood in the new land and would assist however he could, and his eight hundred men joined Maron Scorpian north of the lake where they would come down against the Orcs once battle was met.

Greengarden

“This was the site of our greatest victory my love, and now it shall be the site of our future. We shall raise our children here. We shall raise a palace here so large, and expansive that you shall forget the scale of Stormwind.”

— Harrold Hardyng

With the main army still moving westward Harrold Hardyng would in his own mind find a perfect spot by the edge of the lake where they had won their great victory, and Harrold would call in the Order of the Grey Dragon, in order to found the capital of this new land. The Order of the Grey Dragon had been commanded to send a large force to Berne in preperation for both the founding of castles in the area, but also the founding of population centers, and this effort was led by Henry Feleden of whom would following this request move towards the area with some two hundred armed men gaurding him and his nearly one thousand construction workers of whom had been raised from the Order. Founding the town of Greengarden it would be the very important Sansa Starke wife of Harrold Hardyng that would arrive there and she would become the High Lady of the new castle and town, thus rising her to a level she thought wouldn`t have been possible with House Hardyng. The walls, and houses were all that was completed before Henry was forced to move northward hearing word that the opening of Brionne had become a battleground and they would need him there once they took the position. The construction of Greengarden would continue under the command of Orellian of whom was the Maester of House Hardyng and he went about quickening the pace alongside Sansa Starke while Harrold led some three hundred of his personal forces to assist in the northern fight.

“I was used to the royal nature of Stormwind, so when we built Greengarden and basically started from the beggining...it was a change.”

— Sansa Starke

The rustic lifestyle of Greengarden would take its tole on her as they were forced to deal with the constant threat of the Orcs that were still present in the area, and there were also significant numbers of Trollocs in the area, but despite all of this they were able to push forward with the construction, and Sansa would discover several days after Harrold had left for the north that she was pregnant with their first child of whom must have been consieved during their wedding night as Orellian discovered she was quite far along. Around the same time as this the forces of House Scorpian would encounter several ruined mines, and deciding this would be a good spot for themselves they withheld knowing about the mines, and begin founding their own town in the form of Skarp of which they brought in many of their peasents from their lands in Lucerne.

Tristfall Secured

“It was the final step to finishing them, and everyone of us knew it. ”

— Gunthor Mountain

With the destruction of the bridges, and the lack of reinforcements from Blackrock the situation had deteriorated completely for the Orcs, and the Bleeding Hollow Clan would gather their remaining forces with the remaining Laughing Skull Clan and made there way towards the land opening of which was the site of the ruins of the town of Brionne. The Elves would see this retreat, and were able to make their way there quickly as well massacring scattered Orc forces as they moved about trying to reach this spot, and once the Elves reached the area they constantly bombarded the Orcish position forcing them to not move within the fortifications the ruins of Brionne provided. Khadgar and the Blue Dragons would move behind their ranks, and create illusions, and elementals which forced the Orcs to further remain in the same spot and by the time the Orcs had rallied enough at Brionne to become a problem the main Lucerne army had arrived to meet with the Elves and the Orcs were now losing incredible numbers to the entrenched forces of the Lucerne army and their allies outside Brionne. Realizing the numbers were going to switch away from them the Orcs would become enraged to the point that they begin splintering but a large force of several thousands charged southward towards the entrentched main Lucerne army. A fierce battle broke out and the Orcs begin to split through the Lucerne lines causing some to retreat, but Donnel Swann would charge into the breach with his Swann Knights and engaged the largest Orc he could find, and after a long battle he killed the Orc causing the rest to pull back where they were shot to pieces by the overwhelming numbers around them.

“On the ruins of Brionne we would build the foundation of our future in Tristfall.”

— Gunthor Mountain

With the Orcs of Tristfall collapsed, and what few remained in the land itself now heavily outnumbered the Order of the Grey Dragon was brought in nearly their entire number in Tristfall to the ruins of Brionne where they would begin construction of the fortress of New Brionne. Built between the flowing two rivers this would be the site of the major fortress that would defend the region from any attack from the northern lands. House Dumner one of the vassals of House Hardyng was given control of the province of Brionne and the fortress itself, and it would be under their care alongside a large Order of the Red Dragon contingent that the fortress would be maintained. The province of Scolpian was created west of Brionne under the command of House Scorpian of Tristfall, and they would control a large number of mines in their lands making this a powerful position. The Tinterlands were created north of Greengarden, and west of Scolpian and since they contained the forces of the Robbet forest they were given to the newly recreated House Robbet of whom was led by Margot Robbet and well known for the Knights of the Quill. A meeting was decided to be held later to decide on the rest of the southern provinces of the new Grand State of Tristfall of which they knew that they would not control as House Arryn was the Arch Lord of the Grand State, while House Hardyng controlled the State of Tristfall.